Twin Aunties

Luckily for me, my sisters understand the seriousness of their auntie responsibilities when they come visit. They were here recently, and both quickly discovered, for example, that in order to maintain peace in our household, SOMEONE must be coloring with Cecilia at all times, non-stop. Around the clock. The moment this stops all hell breaks loose, and to be honest, I'm pretty much all colored out. Here's Auntie Cate taking things pretty seriously. (As a side note I should mention that Cate continued coloring in that book LONG AFTER Cilia was in bed each night. Maybe it's a genetic disorder?)Alissa took on a prominent role as "Great Answerer to all questions religious" after touring the local church in La Chapelle-en-Vercors one sunny afternoon. Since we lost 1 dog and 3 cats over the past year to what I can only assume is Gabonese road rage, both Cilia and Jourdain haunt us all with questions like: "When I die, can I bring my face with me?" and "Will I have the same voice in heaven?" and "Do you think our puppy Koumba will remember me when I die and go meet her?" My not-so-philosophical answer to these questions tends to be that I'd just rather not talk about it right now. Here's Alissa sharing some precious religious tidbits with her niece and nephew outside the church:

Of course the Aunties took J&C for myriad walks in the countryside...
and dared numerous river crossings.
In the end fun was had by all,

many flies were swatted,

caves were visited,and grumpy faces were turned to smiles with the help of the Twin Aunties!

UH-OH

It appears that we've got a bit of a viper problem in our yard in France. Yep - vipers. Hmmm. I'm told once the house is "lived in" and all unnecessary rocks are taken away from the immediate area they will go away. I sure am counting on it.

Viper alive:

Viper dead:

Summers in France

As it turns out, Port-Gentil empties out almost entirely of its non-working expat members (ie spouses and kids) during the months of July and August. Although these are the winter months in Gabon, and thus the coolest (or should I say the least hot) and most mosquito-free, pretty much every single mom takes her kids back to the "home country" to reconnect with family and remember what it's like to be in a place where the electricity never cuts out, fruits are plentiful and refreshingly varied, and the stores are filled with ANYthing your heart desires. For me this pretty much means two months of trips to the supermarket without being able to use my special Gabon weapon on the kids: "Awwwww. Sorry sweety. We just can't buy it since the store has run out. We'll have to wait until next month to see if they get more in." I just know that this summer there's no way I'm going to be able to get Cecilia to enthusiastically try peaches or strawberries at snack-time in France when they're in direct competition with that ever-possible Nutella jar. At age 4 now her radar can pick up on the Nutella aisle pretty much the minute we walk into any supermarket outside of Gabon. Jourdain is more of a Honey Nut Cheerios man, but I consider that much less of a threat.

After having to break the news of our extended departure to Martine, our family's personal fuit vendor in Port-Gentil (see below), we headed off to France. I took this picture just moments after telling her the kids and I were flying out that same evening and would only be back in September. As you can see, she was not particularly happy to see her best clients go. (She walks all over town each day to find me, catching me in front of our house, in the supermarket parking lot, or even here, in front of Jourdain's school. But that's another whole post in itself I'll save for another day.)


So in an effort to create some semblance of stability in our kids' lives during all this moving around we seem to be doing, Olivier and I recently purchased a house in the middle of the woods in France. On a mountain. Far from everything. But it really is a beautiful area and our aim is to spend summers there with as many friends and family members as possible each year once the restauration works have been completed in a year or two! Here's the nity-gritty:

Our house is just outside the village of La Chapelle-en-Vercors. This area is located up on the plateau of the Vercors, which can be seen when looking east from Valence and west from Grenoble, and is in the Drome department. The house is right on the edge of a large nature reserve, allowing Olivier to leave directly from our front door to head out on long hikes and camping trips climbing up into the Alps, all while the kids and I take it easy and enjoy the green around us! In the winter we can reach the ski slopes within 15 minutes. The views in the area are pretty spectacular, with jagged mountain tops, cliffs, waterfalls and beautiful gorges and caves surrounded everywhere by beautiful green forests reminding me of New England. A 45-minute drive south of us drops us off in the town of Die and on to the Provence.

-The Vercors is located here on a map of France: http://www.bedandbreakfast.dk/maps/4/178.jpg

-Map of the plateau: http://www.golf-vercors.com/img/acces2.gif


Our house has a section that was beautifully renovated by the British couple that sold it to us, and a much larger section (barn attached to the main house by a smaller building) to be entirely renovated. Unfortunately the renovation process is taking forever to get off the ground, with our initial architect taking weeks to respond to about 1 email out of 5. I've just now found a new architect and hope he'll prove to be more on the ball!

Based on the speed (or lack thereof) of works getting done right now, I am afraid that the section of the house planned to accommodate multiple friends and family members simultaneously will only be ready as of summer 2009!! GRRrrrrr!!

And now for some pictures of the interior of the house:

The Terracotta House

When our landlord in Gabon recently made the move to have our house painted I jumped right away at the chance to give it a bit of color! I don't know how many years the poor thing had been a shade somewhere between grey and cement, but I went out and got the landlord a sample of the terracotta shade I thought would look nice. Well, no questions asked the guy had the whole damned thing painted in terracotta - wooden fence and all. With its new roof of the same color the house kinda jumps out at you as you drive by, but what the hell....at least it's not boring!


Here's Amadou to show you around the front:

Shopping in town

While there are a number of things you cannot find in the supermarkets here (peanut butter is rare, soy milk impossible, Special K and Cheerios are brought in on special occasions), one thing you can buy with great ease are machetes. You will note in the picture here that they can be found in all different lengths at Supergros supermarket in aisle 1, right as you enter the store, between the sets of cutlery to the left and the pet food to the right.

Scenes from Port-Gentil

Just a few general shots to give you an idea of downtown.

Now you see it, now you don't!!

So take a look at this picture, and see if you can see anything different about our lovely yet pig headed daughter in the shot below. Think she should have listened to her parents who tell her daily not to CLIMB UP ON TOP OF FURNITURE? (You might need to double click on the picture below for the full effect)

All I can say is that there was a lot of blood involved.

Truckin'

Where I come from people use straps, rope or bungee cords to attach important items to the roof of a car or the back of a truck. In Gabon they use, well, people! This is one of many shots to come proving the versatility of human arms, hands, and even butts.

Childhood in Gabon

I often tell people here I sure wish I had had MY childhood in Gabon! Constant sun interspersed with fabulous tropical rain storms that you splash around naked in, never have to wear a sweater (not to mention snow suits), swimming pools, birthday parties, afternoon social time with moms and kids -- and then there's AMADOU, the "guard" at your house, who carries you to the store and back to go get bubble gum!!

Here's Cecilia and best friend Kanzy (half Dutch half Egyptian) on their way back from a trip to the store
A rain storm is always welcome in the heat here, and makes for loads of fun when you're 5!!

Private swimming lessons year-round when you're 3 .........
No need for shirts at the table, even when guests come to dinner. (This is Jourdain's best friend Johan.)

Ines to braid your hair and take you to birthday parties.....



and then braid your best friend's hair too.

You're never limited to playing with your train set indoors.....
or to playing indoors period!!



It sure is a nice place to be a kid!!

Sweet Home Africana

In an effort to catch up on these last 3 months (gasp!) that I haven't posted, I thought the best would be a whole series of pictures based on themes, showing a bit more clearly what things look like for expats in West Africa.

First up - exterior of our house: Here's the front (with Cilia down in right-hand corner)


And the front yard















Back yard........ (with big mango tree)















Mangoes up close from said tree















Our Gabonese mutt - named Mooie (means "little girl" in Malian language)













The pool

Back porch




















And my Dutch BFF Monica with Cecilia's BFF Kanzy on the street in front of our place